Ed Page On Facebook: Should America Strive To Be A Nation Of College Graduates?

The following is an abridged version of a discussion on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/edpagecourant.

Bette Barrett: I think in today's economy you're better off in a trade — always need carpenters, electricians, plumbers, tree cutters, landscapers, etc. I have two grandkids in college, and two who will be going in the next two years, and I know they will have trouble getting jobs.

Tom Nash: How many kids graduate from high school with plans for college because their guidance counselors pushed them that way? How many of those have grandiose plans to be a whatever? How many of those soon realize, "I do not really want to be what I thought?" How many teenagers know enough about life to know what they want to do tomorrow? I wish I knew half as much at 67 as I did at 17! Eisenhower advocated two years of public service after graduation from high school to allow time for young people to gain a feel for life and an understanding of what they really wanted to do forever.

John Porriello: I was talking with my older brother, who owns a machine shop, who constantly laments about the lack of skilled labor to do his kind of work. He went to a technical high school 30 years ago and then got an associate's degree in engineering and now he makes things. We need more people who can make things instead of managing things. ... The old adage of "you go to college to learn how to think" is just a stupid and expensive lesson. This flawed sales job on the part of the college industry has resulted in huge debts that some history and sociology graduates have no way to repay, but now they know how to think. Maybe they are "thinking" they got bad advice.

Jerry LePore: Does American society put too much emphasis on a college degree? You bet it does! If I could give today's high school graduates a piece of advice, it would be to learn how to work for yourself and run your own business. What's the point of going in debt for a college education, only to spend a couple of years looking for a job that will be eliminated in a few years when the company downsizes/reorganizes? In corporate America these days, it's a cycle that seems to never end.

Christopher Kylin: College is a waste of time for half the students currently attending. They're not being assigned anything to do, they're getting drunk in dorms — no reading, no scholarship, no standards. College is as much an intellectual wasteland as television.

Mark Pappa: It's using the government's money to pay big salaries for administrators and providing bunk degrees in many cases. There are some excellent programs, but way too many that are exorbitant in cost, and [the graduates'] salaries won't cover the debt service on the student loans.

Kevin White: I think the issue is becoming return on investment. I paid for my own college education (UConn) and graduated with the backbreaking debt of almost $7,500. Given similar, my children each would have well over $150,000 — that's a crippling amount of debt to begin life with.

College is oversold as some sort of "necessity" to get a "good job." That's a lie, and leads to two things. First, competitive demand drives the cost up in double-digit inflation fashion. Second, if everyone has a college degree, then the value of a degree is diminished as nothing special. The result is an abssurdly expensive piece of paper that's not worth much.

Christopher Kylin: A century ago, we sent about 14 percent of 18-year-olds to college, and so did England. Now we send about 50 percent and England still sends 14 percent. We are not three times as intelligent today, or three times as intelligent as the English.

Lorna Nichols Hosley: Heavens no! What will you do when your toilet leaks or your car breaks down?

Patricia Carter: I don't have a problem with college graduates who are qualified to be college graduates, but I have spent too many years in the corporate world and seen too many college graduates who seem to have majored in nothing more than beer-drinking, buzzwords and cliches. They cannot spell, they cannot add numbers, they cannot think, they cannot write their own name legibly, and seem to be concerned with nothiing but their salary and their benefits. I have had better luck dealing with qualified plumbers who show up on time and know what they are doing.

Patricia McKernan: I'm surprised at the contempt for education here. Seems like most of the people here think of college as a job training institute. While it is, and should be, more than that, the unemployment rate for people with at least a bachelor's degree is 3.9 percent.

Patricia Carter: It's not education that I find contemptible, it's the lack of it among college graduates. Spending all that time and money in school to learn nothing of any value is contemptible.

Ralph Capenera: Some people do well with college and some people do well without college. ... More importantly, how committed you are to being successful is a key factor in determining your outcome in life.

Dianna Talbot Wilson: We should look to Germany as a model for what to do: Over there, companies "sponsor" high school students into an internship/job experience that provides relevant skills and training.

Robert Strasdauskas: How can we "progress" as a society without an ample supply of those formally trained in "women's studies," lawyers trained in "social justice," journalists trained in the art of propaganda, and historians that understand the Founders were just a bunch of grumpy privilaged slave owners? That surely is worth $50,000 a year.

John M. Stanko: It's all about options. ... True — the job market is incredibly tough for college grads, but as the saying goes, "this too shall pass." Education teaches you more than just subjects. It teaches you that you are able to learn and that learning will allow you to do more with your life if you choose to. Over the years I personally have worked in restaurants in all capacities including management, taught middle and high school, wrote computer programs, consulted in technology, designed web sites, taught teachers how to use technology in their classes, repaired computers, set up networks in a school district, remodeled houses from top to bottom, did masonry work, and did many other things which I learned on my own. I was able to do all of this because I was taught how to learn from early education all the way through graduate school. ... Learning is a lifelong endeavor.

Patricia McKernan: ‎@Dianna, I totally agree. Back in the '60s, companies trained machinists. Now, all they do is whine about not being able to find people who have already been trained by someone else.

Carl J. Olson Sr.: There are times when I have more need of a plumber than a doctor.

Nancy Lusa: Not everyone is suited for college, but these should seek further knowledge elsewhere, i.e., the trades.